Blaydon, polished axe

HER Number:
598

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Blaydon, polished axe

Place:
Blaydon

Map Sheet:
NZ16SE

Class:
Tools and Equipment

Site Type: Broad:
Cutting Equipment

Site Type: Specific:
Axe

General Period:
Prehistoric

Specific Period:
Neolithic

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
This battered stone axe was said to have been found in Blaydon, probably before 1940, and in 1968 was among a small group of prehistoric material in Blaydon East Secondary Modern School, Shibdon Road, Blaydon. It is recorded as measuring 11.3 cms. long by 5.6 cms. wide and 2.5 cms. thick The cutting edge and about 2 cms. on either side is polished but it is impossible to say whether this was the total extent of the polishing or if it had at one time been polished overall, since most of the surface is missing, possibly due to burning.

Easting:
18

Northing:
63

Grid Reference:
NZ1863

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 598 >> Ordnance Survey archaeological record cards, JHO, 1952, Neolithic/Early Bronze Age polished stone axe J. Tait, 1968, Prehistoric Finds, from Blaydon, Co. Durham, Transactions Architectectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, New series Vol. I, pp. 101-2 no. 3 R. Miket, 1984, The Prehistory of Tyne and Wear, p. 25, and fig. 7 p. 29, no. 14